An anonymous NBA player poll indicates that the Boston Celtics are favored to win the championship over the Detroit Pistons, receiving 8.2% of the votes. The Oklahoma City Thunder lead with 50%, followed by the San Antonio Spurs at 25.3%.
Anonymous NBA player poll says Celtics more likely win it all over Pistons originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The fight towards winning the Larry O'Brien trophy is very tight even in the Eastern Conference. A whopping total of four teams from the conference were able to win more than 50 games in the league. But, only the Detroit Pistons managed to break the 60-win barrier. Despite this, a lot of NBA players are still choosing the Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum-led Boston Celtics to win it all. Why is that the case and how many players voted them as favorites from the East?
A huge disparity exists in the record between the Celtics and Pistons. The conference-leading team has won 60 games despite not having a Cade Cunningham in the last stretch of the season due to a collapsed lung. They also saw guys like Daniss Jenkins and Jalen Duren pop off more without the star guard.
Coach Joe Mazzulla, on the other hand, had his fortunes reversed. The Celtics did not have Jayson Tatum for the majority of the year due to his Achilles injury. Jaylen Brown rose to become an MVP candidate and his fellow players saw that. This is why The Athletic's anonymous NBA player poll had 8.2% of their 146 voters pick the Celtics to win it all. They have the third-most votes. They come after the Oklahoma City Thunder who got a whopping 50% while the San Antonio Spurs notched 25.3% of the votes.
The Pistons? They are still up there too. 4.1% of the NBA players think that Cunningham and Duren could still lead this team to the Larry O'Brien trophy when summer rolls around. A likely big part of the concern is their star guard's injury. More than that, the Pistons offense is only valued at a 117.9 rating which ranks 10th in the league. This is a far cry from the Celtics which have the second-best rated offense that is valued at 120.8.
Furthermore, both teams' defenses are not too far off. The Pistons have a superior defensive rating of 109.7 which is second in the league but the Celtics still have a top four rating that clocks in at 112.7. Clearly, all of these numbers and NBA player votes will only become more superficially as the postseason goes by.
For now, the Celtics can ride this momentum of belief to a 19th banner. The Pistons can also put a chip on their shoulder to prove everyone wrong about their capabilities of winning it all.
8.2% of the NBA players surveyed voted for the Boston Celtics to win the championship.
The Oklahoma City Thunder received the highest percentage of votes, with 50% of the players selecting them as favorites.
The Celtics are viewed as favorites due to Jaylen Brown's MVP-caliber performance and the absence of Cade Cunningham for the Pistons, impacting their overall strength.
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